About the course
In this course, we dive into the topic of child development. You will learn that child development is complex and is influenced by a surprisingly rich number of factors at many different levels of organization. You will see that development can be studied in various domains and at various levels of understanding, from different angles and disciplines. Importantly, you will come to understand that processes within and between the various domains and levels of organization continuously interact to shape development. This implies that understanding development requires taking an interdisciplinary approach.
In order to help you organize your thinking about this complexity you will learn more about the developmental systems approach and theories related to that. We will look, amongst other things, at the brain and motor development, cognitive, language and social-emotional development and all the factors that have an influence on development.
To illustrate how an interdisciplinary approach helps to understand child development you will see how researchers from various disciplines and backgrounds study child development at Utrecht University. These scientists will give a look in their field of knowledge and their collaboration with colleagues, to illustrate how the theory you will learn translates to practice.
In sum, we invite you to follow us on a journey to understand child development from synapse to society!
Schedule
The course starts on the week of 4 February, and it is scheduled over 6 weeks.
Estimated learning effort
4 - 5 hours per week. You are required to pass all graded assignments to complete the course.
Structure
Week 1: Introduction to Dynamics of Youth
Week 2: Brain and motor development
Week 3: Cognitive development
Week 4: Communication
Week 5: Social-emotional development
Week 6: The big picture
Instructors & Authors
Associate Professor Clinical Child and Family Studies
Created by: Utrecht University